DLA Piper

Construction

DLA Piper’s Construction Law practice in Canada comprises a national team of corporate/commercial, litigation and insurance law lawyers highly experienced in both national and international matters.

We are familiar with all sectors of the construction and engineering industry, including energy, ‎infrastructure and development. We advise on all manner of procurement methods, from commercial ‎developments to major international, domestic, civil and process engineering and energy projects. The ‎corporate/commercial component of our practice provides strategic and legal advice during the ‎negotiation, development, financing, insuring, construction, and warranty phases of projects, from large ‎real-estate projects to high-speed communications infrastructure projects. We routinely handle national ‎and international mega-projects including public-private partnerships.‎

Our litigation lawyers have appeared before all levels of the Canadian courts and in alternative dispute ‎resolution forums. Some of our senior litigation lawyers have acted as mediators, arbitrators and judges ‎in connection with construction disputes, particularly. We work intimately with our DLA Piper colleagues ‎globally, assisting clients wherever in the world business takes them.‎

“DLA Piper is a fully integrated firm which is capable of leading a deal involving international matters. Its real estate and construction team has the highest level of expertise in the field.”

Client, Legal 500 2022

We advise owners, developers, investors, contractors and construction managers, multinational engineering and manufacturing firms, and governments on how to take projects forward. Our support extends from the first days of planning to contract negotiations, project advice, and resolution of claims and disputes. Our full-service integrated approach means we can call on colleagues as needed in areas including procurement, infrastructure, real estate development, finance, tax, and land use.

Our transactional work includes not only negotiated commercial development and construction contracts, but also preparation of government bids, complex P3 structure documents, and O&M contracts.

We also work to mitigate risks before issues become disputes. Should disputes take place, our team can advise on mediation, arbitration, and litigation. It includes first-chair trial lawyers in the US who are experienced in trying major disputes to verdict in court and to award in arbitration.

Our goal is to help you to deliver assets and infrastructure in an efficient and cost-effective manner, all the while managing risk and preventing disputes before they arise.

Awards and recognition

Our construction lawyers have been recognized by leading lawyer ranking guides including Chambers Canada, The Legal 500 Canada, the Lexpert® ALM 500 Directory, Best Lawyers in Canada, Benchmark Litigation and Who's Who Legal.

Our group's experience in Canada covers:

Construction Disputes

We have successfully represented owners, contractors, design builders, consultants, lenders, sureties and suppliers to the construction industry in many significant cases, including delay and impact claims, change-order disputes, changed-site conditions allegations and force-majeure events, insurance and bonding claims, inspection and supervision claims, defective workmanship issues, the collection of contract accounts and matters of contractual interpretation.

Design and Engineering Issues

Our experience includes engineers' and architects' common law and contractual obligations from the design, inspection and supervision services. We have handled hundreds of large-scale design and engineering cases including heavy industrial equipment failures, highway design and construction, concrete failures ranging from industrial floors to open mine grout curtains, bridge design and construction, transmission line and power system design and construction, and pressure vessel failures, to name only a few. We have extensive experience in dealing with the world's leading experts in building and machine design and failure analysis.

Leaking Condominiums and Deficient Buildings

Our construction litigation team has acted for a broad range of private and institutional owners, developers, tenants, lenders and contractors in a host of leaking condominium claims and other matters involving building deficiencies generally. Our trial lawyers have appeared before all levels of the courts and in alternative dispute resolution forums, including mediations and arbitrations. Our lawyers have extensive experience dealing with insurers, government agencies, lending institutions and bonding and insurance companies.

Tender Advice and Disputes

We regularly act for owners and successful and unsuccessful bidders in tender disputes. We counsel numerous institutional clients with respect to the legal requirements of tender offer and acceptance, and routinely provide advice as to how to avoid pitfalls in these complicated areas. We also work extensively with our clients to develop custom or standard form contracts and tender packages.

Liens

We have represented thousands of clients over the years in lien claims involving real property, mining tenures, and petroleum leases. We advise claimants, general contractors, subcontractors, owners and lenders on all aspects of liens from registration phase through the enforcement of the same.